JUDGES. 



is a matter of more difficulty and trouble, and which de- 

 mands more knowledge and care in its execution, than is 

 commonly fuppofed by perfons unacquainted with the bufi- 

 nefs. Various obftacles have been thrown in the way of 

 this fort of improvement by farmers in different diliricts. 

 By fome the expence is coniidered as very great, while 

 others oppofe it on the ground of the injury done to the 

 land for fome years afterwards. And according to the 

 Agricultural Report of the county of Perth in Scotland, 

 the objeftion made by fome farmers in the Carle of Gowrie 

 is this : in the action of levelling ridges, that have been, 

 time immemorial, raifed high in the crown, much foil is 

 brought up, which for ages had neither feen the fun nor 

 fmelled the air. This, like moft other foils, which has been 

 fo long and fo deep buried, is very unproductive at firll, and 

 blafts all their expectations. It is perfectly confonant to 

 the procefs of nature, the writer fuppofes, that this mould, 

 in fome meafure, happen ; and, as far as it has any weight, 

 is an argument not only againft levelling, but againll Height- 

 ening the ridges of fuch land. But was not, he afks, every 

 particle of that foil, which is fo much reprobated, on the 

 furface of the ground before the ridges were fo raifed by 

 the hand of man ? Was not this very foil, at that time, as 

 good as any foil in the field ? Nay, waB it not much more 

 fertile before it was buried in the middle of the ridge, than 

 the new foil, which the ploughman was digging up year 

 after year, out of the fterile furrow, to afiill in gr.tdually 

 raifing his ridge higher ? Every man muft anfwer in the 

 affirmative. If you therefore bring back your land nearly 

 to the level in which the hand of nature left it, you will 

 find the very foil, which had been fertilized by the deciduous 

 parts of plants, from the creation, until it came into culti- 

 vation ; the foil which Providence intended for the produc- 

 tion of grain for the ufe of man, this foil has not furely loll 

 its fertility, although that fertility has lain long dormant by 

 its being covered up in the bowels of the earth, and removed 

 from the benign influence of heaven. The fertility of a foil 

 cannot be exhaufted by any other means, but by over-crop- 

 ping. It may be fufpended, as in this inltance, but not 

 annihilated. Reftore the foil to its native place, and to that 

 influence of which it was deprived, and it will loon become 

 equally productive as at firlt. It is not pretended that its 

 fertility will be exerted all at once. Clay is a ftubborn foil : 

 it is neither fo eafily Itimulated by manure, nor by the be- 

 nignity of the atmofpherc, as other foil. It requires time 

 and labour and expence to fet it in motion ; but when moved 

 it retains its powers longer and makes very ample returns. 

 And in addition to thefe oblervations, vail benefits mull in 

 many cafes refult from bringing ill-formed ridges into a pro- 

 per fituation for the adrautageous cultureof crops upon them. 

 With regard to the time or feafon for the execution of 

 this fort of work, it has been remarked that the moll luit- 

 ablc period for accomplishing it where the plough is em- 

 ployed, is when the land is undergoing a courfe of repeated 

 ploughings, as in the cafe of a fallow ; as under luch cir- 

 cumftances the more elevated parts of the field may be 

 ploughed over as often, and in fuch directions, as is moll 

 fuitable for bringing them into a level Hate. Where the 

 ridges are not raifed to any very confiderable height in their 

 middles, but badly formed in other relpects, they may fome- 

 times be readily brought into proper order by being lplit, 

 or cloven down occafionally ; a mode which is performed by 

 beginning at the furrows and terminating at the crown or 

 middle of the ridge, fo that the former furrows become the 

 crowns, and the new furrows are made in the middle ot the 

 old ridges, which being filled by a furrow from ea< li fide, 

 has the tendency of foon bringing them into a more equal 



and level form. But that in cal the foil is of the 



light, gravelly, or open and mellow kind, the plough may 

 be conveniently employed in levelling the ridges, without 

 producing any injury of confequence to the crops that may 

 afterwards be put upon the land. It is proper, however, 

 even in lands of thefe kinds, to ufe fuch caution in perform- 

 ing the operation, in order to avoid the injury that might be 

 caufed by too large a proportion of the under foil being 

 brought to the furface in different parts of the ground, and 

 in that way rendering it lefs productive in crops than it was 

 before. 



It has been contended, however, by Dr. Anderfon, in the 

 firft volume of his Effays, that where this fort of work is done 

 by fuch implements as are contrived for expeditioufly bring- 

 ing high ridges to this fituation, as ploughs, harrows, drags, 

 &c. the farmer of neceflity buries all the good mould that 

 was on the top of the ridges in the old furrows : by which 

 he greatly impoverifhes one part of his field, while he too 

 much enriches another ; infomucli, that it is a matter of 

 great difficulty, for many years thereafter, to get the field 

 brought to an equal degree of fertility in different places : 

 which makas it impoffible for him to get an equal crop over 

 the whole of his field by any management whatever : and he 

 has the mortification frequently, by this means, to fee the 

 one half of his crop rotted bv an over-luxuriance, while 

 other parts of it are weak and iickly, or one part ripe or 

 ready for reaping, while the other is not properly filled ; fo 

 that it were, on many occafions, better for him to have his 

 whole field reduced at once to the fame degree of poornels 

 as the pooreft of it, than have it in this ftate. An almolt 

 impracticable degree of attention, in fpreading the manures, 

 may indeed in fome meafure, he thinks, get the better of 

 this difeafe : but it is fo difficult to perform this properly, 

 that he has frequently feen fields that had been thus levelled, 

 in which, after thirty years of continued culture and dreff- 

 ings, the marks of the old ridges could be diftinftly traced 

 when the corn was growing, although the furface was fo 

 level that no traces of them could be perceived when the 

 corn was off the ground. But this, he remarks, is a degree 

 of perfection in levelling that cannot be ufually attained by 

 following this mode of practice, and therefore it is but fel- 

 dom feen ; for all that can be expe&cd to be done by any 

 levelling machine is to render the furface perfectly fmooth 

 and even in every part at the time that the operation is per- 

 formed : but as in this cafe the old hollows are fuddenly 

 filled up with loofe mould to a great depth, while the earth 

 below the furface, upon the heights of the old ridges, re- 

 mains firm and compact, the new-raifed earth, after a Ihort 

 time, fubfides very much, while the other parts of the field 

 do not fink at all ; fo that in a fliort time the old furrows 

 come to be again below the level of the other parts ot the 

 field, and the water, of courfe, is fuffered in fome degree 

 to Magnate upon them, infonuicli that in a few years it be- 

 comes necellary once more to repeat the fame levelling procef? , 

 and thus renew the damage that the farmer fullains by this 

 pernicious operation. He therefore thinks that 0:1 thefe ac- 

 couuts, if the farmer has not a long leate, it will he found, 

 in general, to be more for his interelt to leave the ridges as 

 as he found them, than to attempt to alter their direction : 

 and if he attends with due caution to moderate the height of 

 thefe old ridges he may reap very guuJ erops, although, 

 perhaps, a! .1 fotnewhat greater expence ;>t labour than ha 

 would have been put to upon the lame field, if it had been 

 reduced to a proper level furface, and divided into llraight and 

 parallel ridges. However, where a man is iecure of pollell- 

 ing his ground for any COnfiderable length of time, the ad- 

 vantage that he will reap from having level and well laid 

 I i 2 cmt 



